Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner is currently running for Congress.

Turner is running against Shontel Brown on May 3rd.  This seat will represent Ohio’s Cuyahoga County. This isn’t Turner’s first crack at this congressional seat, as she ran last August. At that time, she was endeavoring to fill the seat of Marcia Fudge. Fudge formerly held that seat before being appointed by President Biden to become the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. President Biden has taken a more cautioned approach to addressing student loan forgiveness thus far in his presidency. Turner, a huge federal student loan forgiveness advocate, sees this as an opportunity to address its importance. She has been a staunch advocate for the working class, as well as millennials and Gen Zers.

Turner believes that this time will be different.

Voters will be more prepared to make decisions on May 3rd under more traditional circumstances. In preparation for this special election, Nina Turner spoke with Blavity U to address one of the main tenets that she is running on which is the importance of  fully forgiving federal student loans. As our Blavity U universe knows, this is one of the biggest hindrances to our progress as a country.

As I once asked Jemele Hill, I asked Turner about the generational divide among democrats, and how she felt we could go about bridging that. She stated that “democrats need to get on the same page about what is the best thing for the working people.”  Turner went on to say that the hesitancy to move on cancelation of student loans can be attributed to the respective “lived experiences” of prior generations.

There has been much made about the first year of President Biden’s presidency. There’s been questions about how much power he actually has in regards to canceling student loans. So I asked Turner the million dollar question, what power does President Biden have to fully cancel these student loans? She responded emphatically, “the same authority that the president has to continue pausing repayment of these loans, is the same authority that he has to cancel them.”

With federal student loan repayment currently paused again until August 31st, the former Senator is surely on to something there. Ohio, let your voices be heard on May 3rd. If you are for the advancement of the working class, Nina Turner is here to serve you. 

Check out the totality of our conversation below where discuss some of Ms. Turner’s early influences in her education and in her personal life and so much more!